Abdalla Tobasi poses for a photo inside his gas station and convenience store on Selby Avenue in St. Paul on Wednesday, July 18, 2018. If a $15 minimum wage increase goes through, “all I can do is shut down my stores, or kick my employees out and work it myself, or raise my prices,” (John Autey / Pioneer Press)

With two daughters in college back in the Philippines, Alain Mamaril wants to see St. Paul impose a $15 minimum wage almost immediately — no waiting until the year 2024 for full roll-out, as Minneapolis has chosen to do.

The 46-year-old University Avenue retail worker has worked the same grocery cash register for eight years, and a $15 hourly wage would be a big boost, though he’s too modest to say how big.

For many immigrant workers, “it’s hand to mouth,” said Mamaril. “You get enough to pay the bills, that’s it. You don’t save much.”

Saaea Isaq would like to see the $15 minimum wage implemented, as well, but with exemptions for small, family-run start-up operations like Sabrina’s Deli, the Ethiopian restaurant she runs with her aunt and uncle on Snelling Avenue.

“We’re still small and trying to make it,” said Isaq, pointing to a man exiting the one-room restaurant shortly after noon on Monday with a bottled water and a soda. “All day today, he was my first customer. He only spent $1.50, and I’ve been here since 7 in the morning.”

As St. Paul officials mull how to structure a citywide wage increase, the city’s immigrant population has become an important backdrop to discussions.

Advocates for a $15 minimum wage say immigrant workers have among the most to gain from higher wages, as immigrant wages tend to be low, average family sizes are larger and many workers support relatives abroad.

On the flip side, some immigrant business owners say they and their workers have the most to lose, as their shops are less likely to be able to shoulder increases in labor costs. Many small shops already face new costs, such as St. Paul’s recent paid sick leave mandate and a ban on certain tobacco products.

A task force assembled by the Citizen’s League is studying wide-ranging recommendations around how quickly to raise wages and what, if any, businesses to exempt.

The St. Paul City Council likely will vote on the recommendations this fall.

“We do know that locally and nationally, raising the wage disproportionately benefits workers of color and the lowest earners in the workforce, and we also know that immigrants disproportionately occupy those categories,” said Celeste Robinson, lead organizer with $15 Now Minnesota. “The data from Minneapolis confirms that the majority of low-wage workers in that city are people of color.”

Many business owners, however, worry that a minimum wage increase could cost their employees their jobs, or at least force them to trim hours — hurting rather than helping immigrant workers who might not find comparable employment with non-immigrant owned companies.

They also worry they’ll be forced to raise prices on everyday products common to their stores but unique to immigrant communities, such as Mexican corn flour and East African injera bread.

‘EVERYTHING IS TOO EXPENSIVE’

“If we raise our prices, the same people I’m paying the extra money to are paying it back to me,” said Abdalla Tobasi, who runs convenience stores on Minnehaha Avenue and Selby Avenue. “The bread I sell now for $1.99, I’m going to have to raise my bread to $2.49.”

He believes advocates are glossing over that and other math.

“When we pay people wages, you’ve got to add to that 2 to 3 percent more for worker’s compensation and Social Security, maybe more,” he added.

Then there are business owners like Hassan Hussein, an Oromo barber who runs the Gannale Barber shop near University and Snelling avenues.

“If workers around here are paid more, I hopefully can charge a little more,” said Hussein, who runs his shop alone. “That’d be good if I can raise my prices. The problem is if they raise my rent, as well. I see both sides.”

Maintenance worker Francisco Bailon has an even rosier take on a $15 minimum wage.

“Perfecto!” said Bailon, taking shade in 80-degree weather under a tree near Snelling and University avenues. “Food, everything is too expensive. There’s almost nothing left over.”

Like many immigrant workers, Bialon sends as much of his paycheck as he can afford back to his mom and mother-in-law in Mexico.

“Every two months, I send what I can,” said Bialon, who already makes more than $15 an hour. “A lot of people don’t make as much, and everything is very expensive.”

Antonia Sanchez, 47, has cleaned the same St. Paul store for 14 years. Sanchez, a single mother of three teen and adult daughters, recently received a raise from $10.75 to $11.50 per hour, but it’s still barely enough to make ends meet. She supports a $15 minimum wage without exceptions for youth or tipped employees.

“I imagine young workers would have more time to study, and have to work less, just like single moms,” said Sanchez, in Spanish. “They’d have more time with their kids.”

Her biggest concern is that her employer, which is based out of state, might be exempt from a new citywide minimum wage. The store she cleans subcontracts with a cleaning company that is located in Texas.

“That’s what worries me. I’d like them to pay me $15,” she said. “We don’t get benefits. They don’t pay me vacations — not a single day. Nothing. You think that’s fair? Us cleaners, we’re just seeking what’s fair.”

WHICH JOB WOULD YOU PICK?

Pang Vang operates Rainbow Health Kare on Minnehaha Avenue, which sends personal care attendants to assist elderly and disabled clients all over the state. Her phone rings with calls from people in desperate straits, but she’s run out of workers to accommodate the demands of an increasingly senior population.

“In a bowel program, you’re wiping somebody’s butt,” Vang said. “If you can make $15 at Target, plus benefits, which job would you pick?”

She’s generally supportive of higher wages, but she worries that a rapid roll-out to $15 an hour would force her to leave St. Paul entirely. State Medicaid reimburses her $17.40 per hour, leaving little wiggle room in her budget to cover operations and insurance. Even exempting her business from a wage increase would be of limited help.

“Even if we had a carve-out, how are we going to compete for employees?” Vang said. “We’re hurting. I get 10 calls a day with brand new clients. ‘Can you send somebody just for a couple hours, or just for a day or two?’ I don’t even have that. All my people are doing all the hours they could possibly do.”

Ericka Trinh runs Anh’s Hairstylists with her mother and sister, but the wage increase stymies hopes that she could hire new employees in the future.

“It makes it really tough on us. Our prices are really low, so in order to pay anybody that much it makes it really difficult. So then we’re being reduced to not being able to really hire anybody,” Trinh said.

Trinh said she’s noticed a shift in employee expectations, because nowadays “it’s hard to find anybody who’s willing to work the hours or stay long enough.”

“They expect a certain amount, and I feel like $15 minimum wage just increases that expectation, and if they don’t get that they’re not going to work,” Trinh said.

THE MENTHOL BAN

Tobasi, the convenience store owner, is an even tougher sell. He points out that St. Paul recently restricted methol sales to tobacco and liquor stores, effective Nov. 1.

“Menthol cigarettes make up 50 percent of my sales,” Tobasi said. “And now you’re going to slam me with $15 minimum wage? It makes no sense.”

Tobasi has owned and operated two gas stations and convenience stores on Selby and Minnehaha avenues in St. Paul for 27 years and 18 years, respectively, and he has no plans of going anywhere. But he says his customers and his workers could be a different story.

If a $15 minimum wage increase goes through, “all I can do is shut down my stores, or kick my employees out and work it myself, or raise my prices,” he said. “There is no other solution. That’s the only three options I have. And I’m not going to shut it down. Instead of having two people at the store, I could have one — which is not good for security.”

“I don’t know if they think that by running a small store we are making hundreds of thousands of dollars a month. … My price is already double the price of Aldi’s stores. I’m losing all my business to Aldi’s. And I’m going to raise more?”

Frederick Melo was once sued by a reader for $2 million but kept on writing. He came to the Pioneer Press in 2005 and brings a testy East Coast attitude to St. Paul beat reporting. He spent nearly six years covering crime in the Dakota County courts before switching focus to the St. Paul mayor's office, city council, and all things neighborhood-related, from the city's churches to its parks and light rail. A resident of Hamline-Midway, he is married to a Frogtown woman. He Tweets with manic intensity at @FrederickMelo.

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